29 November 2012

and if you believe that I have some great ocean front property for you in Redridge.

She IS level 90!

Now to sort out the mass of dailies (Klaxxi, Tillers, Anglers, and I'm sure I'm missing a dozen or more who are now wanting me to come and help and from whom I can get some awesome loots in return) and figure out who to level next.

I want to level my healer and set myself to the challenge of learning a whole new really hard thing to do. Whatever other people say, Monk heals are twitchy. I've watched the reactions to them in dungeons and seen how very stat and gear prone they are in upper levels. This will be as big of a challenge as my Fury warrior and my Affliction 'lock. WOOT

Allumette seems next logical, however because I have always used her as my main character and because the guild is hell-bent on Darkmoon Cards. By hell-bent I mean farming herbs on a full 24 hour rotation and milling inks.

No on has ever listened to me or "cared" that I feel like this is gambling and that I have never been overly interested in it as a hobby. I'd rather farm the herbs I need for flasks and potions and leave the trinket farming to those with the money to spare for it. I make my money from the things I make milling and making stuff. Every guild I've ever been in did this on the new expansion. Well, every guild after Decadence, Inc. and including Decadence once they found out about raiding in any serious way.

At least Okeret isn't amassing gold. He's not farming it to farm people. He's trying to get us all trinks for raiding. And in that, I will support him and farm and make the damned cards. I just refuse to "wish for a certain card" while I'm making them anymore. That's what the fortune cookies are for... LOL

Let me say here sarcastically and ACIDICALLY Thank you, Blizzard. Just when I'm suffering a missing of Trion that is pulling my mind back and away from my drive to have 5 level 90 toons in your game. I cannot express to you my absolute admiration for your ability to fuck it up royally just a few weeks after each new expansion so that we can all tell who you're really making the game for. You're the assholes we all love to hate and boy are you fucking good at it. Hats off to you, while we bend over and moon your moronic asses.

That's all I have of that for now. I'm still too angry to think. I might eventually detail out for you the reduced herb spawns, the vastly more expensive inscriptions and potions and flasks and elixirs as a result. The constant farming that has become the point of the game. It is no longer about playing or dungeons or having fun. The end-game in WoW is only the farm... and part of me fears that this is in direct relationship to the crying 80's and 85's from the last two expansions that listed Rift as a way to balance the game. Do you not realize those fuckers played EQ? I don't want a 30 part 4 profession requirement for building my own motherfucking furniture in WoW. That's what EQ is for.

The neverending rep grind begins for me in earnest... the constant contact with assholes and asshats from other servers in every area where I can grind for herbs and mines and fish and anything else I need until there are no nodes active in any zone because there were fewer of them after the last patch. Leaving the Spirit of Harmony soul bound after making it just a little harder to get anything else so that the prices in the AH that already is a laughable place to be assraped by the other players with a mind to do so is filled with thieves and thugs and gold farmers.

yeah. I sit on the edge of being hateful right now and I am struggling very valiantly against it. you all know what comes next... 6 months in Rift and Skyrim while I cool off... demotion in the guild... missing friends and a constant sense of guilt because I SHOULD be loving something I'm fucking angry at. yeah. I'm resisting that.

Thank you, Penny Arcade for the reminder that we are all cyclical and that WoW is always a rich source of humor and frustration. Here is a post with all of their WoW related comics EVER.

Yeah... maybe more than on the edge or verge of it, huh? LOL

To clarify... EQ is an awesome game that fundamentally changed the way that gaming works for lots of people and in lots of designer's minds as they made their own games.

Rift is not EQ and is very different from EQ. Rift is also not WoW and is very different from WoW. There are some obvious similarities between Rift and EQ and some very clear differences. The grind in professions mirrors that of some of the harder games and it makes my headache just thinking how many things Julienne skinned and didn't get a single level out of. In a whole day playing I got 2 bubbles of experience. The game is about the game and not the progression and Trion took the "make 'em work for it" method of leveling and progression. It hurts and will be godsdamned worth it when I get there... in a year or two.

And WoW is no longer WoW in the very sense of the word.... ask for something to be made available to your other characters and you want the game dummied down... complain and you're in the mass of people doing the same and don't say anything and you're like the other 90% of the sheep-like masses who are playing the game and for whom the real inconveniences are being made in the first place. The gift of Pandaria with "Slow down!" and "There is no hurry." From all the pandas you'll meet is in the message that they mean it. You have rapid leveling progression and you'll get into raids pretty fast with all the stuff available to you and for the best things you're gonna have to work, and work hard and work long because we're making sure that you get SLOWED THE FUCK DOWN.

Hi ho... hi ho... its off to farm I go... there's quests to do and tons to sell... hi ho... hi ho... hi ho... hi ho...

27 November 2012

The PLAN as it stands right now is to gear her and start the process of leveling up Sigvorth next.

Then I will have a healer and a ranged caster.

And then I can look back at the warriors and decide what I want to do with them. I can also take a look at leveling Holle, a new little frost mage.

According to noxxic.com I have accidentally chosen the highest DPS classes except for my monks.

Almost in order.

Frost Mage (Holle... just born and not even leveled out of the starting grounds yet)
Affliction Warlock (Kilijan... almost 90 and almost geared for heroics already)
Fury Warrior (Allumette... 87.95 and just finally getting back on track for leveling)
Arcane Mage
Fire Mage

lol

So why do I feel beat up? Regardless of how many ways I warn against it, no matter how many examples I give and no matter what I try to explain... the GM of Renaissance has his own way of things and anything that does not agree is wrong. Period. There is no second thought given, no consideration and no quarter.

Renaissance is a social leveling guild. We have so many people who do not ever fully explore their class/spec combinations and instead grind up towards the top and then wander about doing the things that interest them. In a social leveling guild this is beautiful. Perfect. This is how it should be.

A number of the hardcore guys have come back to the guild after a year or two away. They are flying towards the top through the content that the other half of the guild loves and are preparing for raiding. Any observation of the danger of forming a tight knit little group of favorites is ignored. They're doing what they want to do and that's what you're supposed to do in a game.

And I am continuing to resist the urge. Within reason, of course. I AM leveling the warlock and I AM planning on gearing her and spec'ing her for raiding.

So Jake asks me why I'm not going to raid lead and I say that I don't think it would be appropriate. I encouraged him when he said that he has already put his name in for raid leader and I support him and will continue to support him. He's "raid led" for a few of our lesser trained guildies already in the old expansion.

I wont because there have been 100 examples of times when I have tried to have a conversation with our GM and he has shut me down, ignored me, refused to understand me and otherwise has made it clear that he is in that 75% of the world who just does not bother to listen before they make a decision. He is filtering for words that suit his point of view and then leaping head first forward with it.

Why do I stay? I love him. He's a dork and a wonderful guy. He's also a self-centered prick. "How can you say that about someone who gives so much of his time to the guild and to the other players?" Easily. WHY is he doing it? As sad as it sounds, I admire him. I disagree with him sometimes to the point of blind rage, and still... I'm the one who backs down. I think he's wrong as often as he's right and still, he has his way. He is not hurtful, he is not vengeful (well... I could give an example to the contrary and I wont because I really do like him) and he is absolutely dedicated to the success of our guild and the people in it, even if they are NOT just like him.

And because of the many times that he has said "Calm down, you're freaking out, woman," when I was not even the least bit worked up, or "You get all worked up about silly things, girl," when I was asking for help and had to explain to three or four different people what I needed before I found one who would understand I will not be raid leading. People believe what they hear... not what they can prove for themselves.

Sincerely, and again... I point out that I like the bastard... on the down side of having a leader who is sort of... well... his own sort of guy... I'm entirely sure he would argue with me about this and then his actions would speak more loudly than words... I don't believe he would be able to raid under my leadership because he believes what he is saying and perceives me (and possibly most women) as weaker and sentimental and would prefer be in charge himself.

I might be wrong. I'd still rather not be in charge. I'll decide as we go whether even my input has any weight. I don't believe it ultimately does.

I'm saying something they don't want to hear.

Some players in social leveling guilds can learn and become exceptional raiders in that supportive and nurturing environment. Belegorad and Julienne did it. In fact, the first tolling of the death bells for Decadence, Inc. was the introduction of a bunch of folks who wanted to raid and were learning from within the guild to a group of guys who had just landed on the server and were building a raiding guild. They gutted the guild on the way out and created a lot of hard feelings within the guild.

Other players will never be good raiders. They don't have the dedication to a small sector of the game to pull it off. It is all numbers. There can be only one on top. The constant competition and ranking and dedication to being better than everyone else in the group is just something they will never learn or master.

I'm not sure that's a bad thing. It has taken me a year to stop looking at my gear every time I get a new piece and making sure it's absolutely the best in slot for my spec and rotation etc... And I still do it. In Rift, in WoW... even playing single player games I'm constantly watching my DPS and making sure that I'm as efficient and effective as possible.

I miss the days when I was so new and so naive that I could race up the docks at Darkshore and attack a horde player using our boats to get to Teldrassil and actually expect a result. (For the record, there was one. My level 15 warrior was dead without being hit... he had mage armor or some other magical armor effect up and Julienne died to the damage that it did in a single shot.) I miss being such a newb to the way that things are supposed to be on a PvP server that I got warrior pvp training by sitting side by side on a hill overlooking live duels between the two factions and watching them talk before Blizzard took away the cheat we were using to communicate. I miss the pie eyed girl who leveled side by side with a tauren hunter in the Arathi Highlands because our different quests sent us after creatures that were side by side in the terrain. We worked hard not to use AoE and he kept his pet on passive and we played having a very good time for over an hour before he was murdered by an Alliance player who was disgusted by our little transgressions. A tauren warrior once harassed an Alliance base and then stripped naked and gave me lessons in PvP between times when he would put his armor back on and kill all the guards again. He didn't even try to kill me. He was more interested in teaching me how to kill him because he loves warriors and wants them all to be superior.

Those experiences were possible because I didn't know there were more than my sort of player in the game. I thought we were all just having an awesome time being blown away by all the amazing things to do and see and experience in the game. I wasn't aware that the PvP heads hated the Raiders and I didn't know that some guilds would kick you out for not being absolutely the best fury warrior in the game. I had no idea that your only value in the game is to be part of an elite little group that has set themselves apart and against the other little elite groups in a silent and obvious competition. I was in a loving and supportive and educational family of people who were enjoying my enjoyment and exploration of the game they loved.

And raiding kicked that in the ass and sent it to the corner for being bad.

Checking my rankings in the guild to be sure I might be high enough to get the upgrade on the loots that drops and being very aware before I rolled that I would never get it because I just wasn't showing the right output for my potential and my points showed it. Logging into a guild web site to see if I made the 10 or 25 man raid this week, not because I wanted to know what we were doing as a group or see the fun and creative stuff my guildies posted. Being so aware of my gear and DPS that recount is open on my screen even when I'm questing and feeling my frustration rise when I cannot get my DPS to come up to what I'm expecting it should be.

I have finally gotten to a place where I can, with difficulty, just equip a piece of gear and NOT check whether it increased my overall DPS. I turned off my experience bars and just played for the sake of playing because I was tired of feeling like I was in a race to some almost unobtainable goal at the top. I want to be the best that I can be, and that is different from the best that someone else can be.

And now I'm going to gear Kilijan and I know without checking that she only needs 4 points of item level to be able to queue for heroic dungeons and that she still needs 5,000 more spell power and a real lot more spell hit to be even bottom 5 of 10 competitive in the DPS meters against players like Okeret and Boreas and Anpu. I know this because I'm competitive by nature, not because I particularly care whether I'm beating them.

I'm totally OK to let them be in charge and resist being the leader because some part of me admires the totally social players in our guild who are happy in their quest greens exploring a continent that I have not even seen 1/2 of at 89.5 and well on my way to 90. I'll get me ready, and I'll have what I need and my investment will be about having fun and when it isn't fun I'll quit doing what isn't fun. I love and enjoy the people in our guild who are part of the family and who are just playing to enjoy what it is that they get from the game. I will always have them to hang out with and there is always /LFR to piss me off and drive me nuts and there will always be /Trade where I can LFM or 510 Aflic Warlock LFG.

Julienne is only 50.25 in Rift... and I'd like to see some more. In Rift I can be that casual social player who is just trying to keep her character alive and still see 100% of every map before she moves on.

peace... and if not peaceful then remember... the sha rises where there is strong emotion without balance. know what you're fighting for before you rise to the challenge or you just might break the balance and pay the consequences.

20 November 2012

every bit as beautiful and amazing as Rift has always been... every bit as addictive and almost tediously alien as it has ever been...

We can cook and fish and sew tents and sleeping bags now... and we can eat foods that animate like you're eating foods. This is squid, I believe.

The wardrobe now allows a player the freedom to wear any type of armor as a skin over their real armor. This outfit Alex made for me has been in my bank in the wishful hopeful desire that Trion would listen where Blizzard has not and would allow us more customization and freedom with our looks in a game where some of the most beautiful and dangerous NPC's all wear incredibly lovely armor that is next to nothing.

Tulan is a beautiful place full of lovely new and familiar flora and fauna...

With breathtaking backdrops...

And astounding new artwork and scenery... the building here is massive... and nothing compared to the NEW city we discover and use as a base... Meridian would fit in the courtyard of this ancient civilization that the Telaran's have known about and have known were all but extinct until the danger of Crucia recruiting there brought us to the shores of these foreign and still... pretty familiar lands.

Their technology is very advanced, like the Ethian technology lost so long ago in the Mathosian history that we've learned so far in Rift. I'll get some pictures of the devices and robots later.

My cat now looks more like Sid Vicious than like he used to, so his name is different now. He is Mau and he is lovely if not... well... as pretty as he used to be when he was purple and blue and looked like he should have come from the clouds.

There are new monsters to kill and honestly, this capture does him NO justice. This is one UGLY BEAR!

Julienne is now a Pathfinder when she has her pet, a Storm Warrior when she is using her new soul tree and is a Paragon (Death Bringer? I can't remember now) in her third. It took me hours of playing to respec and rework her bars and attacks so that she doesn't die as soon as she attacks things.

2.5 bubbles into level 50... it's a brave new world!

Trion could teach Blizzard a thing or two... and I hope that both Blizzard AND Trion are teaching Bethesda a thing or ten before we get the Elder Scrolls MMO...

First... from my most favorite place in the whole Cataclysm expansion...

Warlock on a dark horse... those glowing orbs are the power of earth fire and air, if I remember correctly only a couple of days later. lol

She's on her way to Uldum in these shots, I just love the colors and the backdrops and everything about Deepholm, including the fact that everything in the whole area is phased and precludes leveling with anyone you didn't START leveling with... lol. I know what that says about me, it's also true. :)

And in Pandaria Kilijan is progressing much more logically and with much more dedication than Allumette or Julienne have done. Allumette is 88 and just got out of the starting zone, Julienne has only done a few quests and has otherwise just farmed because I wanted to meander a bit with her.

There is a quest chain where you go to a pagoda, you see a vision of a Wolf and Prince Anduin and the Prince tells the wolf that he has much to learn in Pandaria and that he is not ready to return home just yet and then he casts a spell and the Wolf becomes King Varian.

This isn't a spoilit because I haven't done it yet, I've just read the lore and know the stories... I believe that in the answer to the way the Pandaren have lived for centuries in a land easily fed by negativity and strong emotion is the answer to the Varian as Lo'Gosh vs. just King Varian dilemma for his son. I can't wait to find out if my guess is right. I hope for the last 10 levels that Azeroth will learn moderation and control and that we will learn to work together... and as a player... well... it IS World of Warcraft, not World of Best Friends Forever.

So this wacky Pandaren takes you under his wing and is working to help you learn the meaning behind the vision you had of the "white pawn" and his father/a giant wolf.

He sends you on a mission to collect some supplies for a brew and then you must stay focused while he distracts you by beating you about the head, gonging a huge gong and otherwise anything he can think of to break your concentration.

And your reward for your dedicated concentration - in the form of a game you have to use the < and > arrows for - is that you will see another vision, this time of Anduin and you will gain information about where he is.

And once you've seen the answer it is your duty to return him to the Admiral and get him safely home where his father is worried almost insane for his safety.

LOL

Or so Varian would prefer. HaHaHa

The Prince who was Regent King in his father's absence isn't exactly... well... a little boy who does what he's told to do.

13 November 2012

is it just me or does this lion appear to be wearing glasses at this distance?

Kilijan was on her way to Northrend to fly to Dalaran and set her hearthstone... and I happened to notice that from the distance of where the boat will stop this lion appears to have on glasses, and I liked the image.

Once setting Kil's hearth in Dalaran I sent her around the "right way" to the content that I actually prefer... see... Borean Tundra is a very leisurely walk for the Alliance. I like the Howling Fijord start much better. Below is a gratuitous shot of Kilijan on the boat departing Menethil Harbor.

You arrive in a boat from your capital city at a well groomed keep under attack by Nerubians who are failing to make a terrible difference to the grounds inside the keep. The quests are tidy and safe and you can progress gently from clearing spiders and bats to zombies and then outwards in an arc that reminds me that a lot of the players of WoW are younger than me.

When you arrive at Valgarde Keep in the Howling Fijord, however... things are not so neatly groomed. The Vry'kul are attacking in ernest right outside and the folks in charge have no time for molly coddling or easing you into the fray. You begin by exiting into a war zone and then must continue to make your way through the Vry'kul village to a dank terrible underground area under the Keep where there will be not one but two dungeons for you. You meet the Lich King... things are... not tidy and not safe.

I will find another picture of the Arthas Menethil Lich King later... for now... this is not him. If you use the incense and travel out of your body away from the vision of the titanic Vry'kul couple deciding that their little human baby must be sent away and cannot be seen by the other Vry'kul and you brave the Val'kyr all around Wyrmskull Village to get to the base of the stairs leading up into Utgarde Keep... the Lich King will punish you for your arrogance.

He was a Shaman once, and he knows that a Shaman has sent you from another time to discover his plans in this village, and he's not happy about it.

All in all the trip through Northrend without Belegorad has been strange. It isn't like I didn't do it without him a number of times... and still... I miss his ready presence as much as I miss his name in the guild roster and miss his sometimes cutting commentary on my playing style and habits. LOL

It was with Belegorad that I learned that I preferred the Howling Fijord Alliance leveling experience, with Belegorad and his constant exploration of the world of Azeroth that I discovered that the Lich King would punish our clever misuse of the tools provided by a Shaman interested in learning how the Vry'kul have been linked for so long to the Lich King and it was with Belegorad that I learned so much about the depth and dimension of such a simple looking game.

On another note... I love my warlock. She is definately one of my two new main characters. I've done the research, I understand her rotation and the tools that she has that no other class can bring to a raid. She is level 75 now and well on her way to distinguishing herself in any raid where Anpu is not present already. LOL

Another gratuitous shot headed towards Goldshire from Stormwind... because I could and it was "pretty."

Monkibizniz and Sigvorth are both progressing beautifully. I haven't decided yet what their outcome is except that Sigvorth will be my other primary character... not perhaps my main, and still the character most likely to be played more often than the warlock, unless Renaissance just doesn't have enough mages or other ranged to fill the holes. Sig is a healer and I love him. I hate the tanks he has to run with, and I still love him. I thought about dual specialization with him to give him options and then decided I really don't want him to be anything else.

A monk and a warlock replace a pair of warriors who will level and gear and continue to lend their professions to the "team" I have assembled that now also includes Sweetassyn on Baelgun.

23 October 2012

Just because. I don't need another reason. I wanted the bronze drake, I got it. I wanted the azure drake, I got it. Beta Jules got the green protodrake from an Oracle Egg and real game Jules stopped trying for it.

Now I want this one. End of.

LOL

Yay for WoW giving us goals, yeah?

Figuring out cooking has become such a drama that I'm sort of doing it in stages of stubborn dedication followed by defeated ass licking and repeated "I meant to do that" moments like a cat that smashed into a plate glass window in pursuit of a bird outside. I will figure it out. I have a reputation to uphold, afterall. And until then... I have many other distractions.

The monks are sort of parked... less from necessity or decision and more from a lack of desire to run them because I've been running the warlock who is now level 54 and almost to outlands. My intent was to get her there and park. I might not. I REALLY LOVE her.

Right now I'm still undecided who my "mains" will be... I'm thinking Kilijan and Sigvorth. The monks are just SO beautiful. I'm also hesitant to go head to head with a million other players as a monk healer and that's just what I'll have to do. EVERYONE said they were going dps and tank on the monks... and rapidly they have all become healers. I don't like to do what everyone else does... I feel all cut from a die and forced to conform and I'm playing to avoid that feeling... and still... I really love him.

I "accidentally" found the missing element of my witchy warlock's transmog set...

the feline familiar.

He HAD to happen. Not only is he perfect with a little 'tude and a cool hat and a broomstick to follow in flight... he's cute. I loved him so much I might just train up his pet battle abilities and make him the primary who fights for Kilijan.

For those who do NOT know, warlocks are wizards who have taken another path and have chosen a darker side to their magic and the energies and minions that they employ. Really a warlock in WoW is a dark witch... one who bends demons and other creatures like Imps and felguards to their will.

Have I said that I LOVE this game? I love to hate it, too... so I'm like the rest of the fan base. And... I love this game.

Kilijan MAY become Gidean, the name is available on the server. I don't know if I really want to spend the money for the name change... and I keep calling her Gidean, so... I probably will. Besides, the name is perfect. I think.

and lastly... sometimes in WoW I have moments of memory flash because they have woven SO many easter eggs (content directly tied to another world or story that can randomly be found in the game) and so many cross-game cross-universe cross-reality references into the world of Azeroth. Robby Flay, for instance, will give you cooking quests to do in Stormwind.

WELLLLLL...

while trick or treating your way around Azeroth during Hallow's End you can occasionally be "tricked" when you are treated... being given a disguise that takes 45 seconds to wear off and often ties you to the ground in whatever form it is, preventing flight, mounting and generally spell casting.

This one reminds me of an episode of Buffy that ends with Giles pointing out that the ancient text beside the diagram in the monster manual translates "roughly" to "pictured actual size."

I'm having trouble remembering if there was ALSO an episode of Charmed with a similar twist... and still, this one LOOKS like the one I recall and attribute in memory to Buffy.

Thank you, Blizzard, for the fun that is Hallow's End and all of the other insanely ridiculously fun World Events you have made such a central part of the WoW experience. I'm aware that many complain... ignore them. They would complain about SOMETHING anyway... so shrug them off and please accept my sincere thanks.

Now... about that wardrobe I've asked for at least a dozen times... you know... the revolving bag made by engineers that houses all of the clothes you require us to collect for World Events and transmog and PvP or PvE and... yeah. That. WHERE IS IT DAMNIT?

peace... and if not peaceful then kill 'em all and let their gods sort them out... I don't worship the f'ers anyway.

I just want these saved for posterity... because I have a plan and want to be able to come back to them when I want them. The source information can be reached by clicking here.

Long story short... when a priest has the glyph of confession as one of their minor glyphs, casting confession on the other player causes them to "confess" something to the priest, as though whispering.

I've got a TON of stuff that my Monk says because it just seems appropriate that he should share bits of wisdom here and there like Kane would do in Kung Fu or the very many other archetypal Chinese monks from movies and television.

Now I'm thinking that when Kilijan melts faces off she can randomly ask some of these in the form of a question of her target...

like... "I suppose you're gonna tell me you once fell off of Dalaran too, right?" or "And you've "borrowed" things from your guild bank without intention of giving them back... I hear that a lot." and one of my favorites, "I know you took the candle, tell me something I don't already know about you."

For a long time, I thought the plural of anecdote WAS data.

I always forget to gem my gear.

I always wanted to be a paladin.

I ask for the Light to give me strength, but I'm not sure it really does.

I asked a friend for gold to buy my first mount.

I dabble in archaeology, but I'm just not that interested in history.

I died to an elevator once. Maybe more than once.

I don't know if Milhouse is a good guy or not.

I don't really have a clue who the Sin'dorei are.

I don't really remember you in the mountains.

I don't treat all of my mounts equally.

I fell off of Dalaran.

I find all these names with so many apostrophes so confusing.

I forgot the Sunwell.

I go into dungeons not to make Azeroth a better place, but just for loot.

I have "borrowed" things from my guild bank.

I have stood in the fire.

I haven't been in a barber shop in months. Goblins with scissors. Shudder.

I know he's a jerk, but there's something about Garrosh...

I light things on fire and yell BY FIRE BE PURGED when nobody is looking.

I never use the lightwell.

I once punched a gnome. No reason. I was just having a bad day.

I once took a bow that a hunter wanted.

I outbid a friend on an auction for something I didn't really want.

I really wasn't prepared. Who knew?

I said I had been in the dungeon before, but i had no idea what I was doing. It was embarassing.

I saw a mage cast a spell once and my jaw really did drop at the damage.

I sometimes forget if Northrend is north or south of here.

I sometimes use my mount to travel really short distances. I mean REALLY short.

I sometimes wonder if tauren taste like... you know.

I spent six months chasing the Time-Lost Proto-Drake.

I thought pandaren were a type of furbolg.

I told my raid leader that I was ready, but I wasn't really ready.

I wasn't really at the opening of Ahn'Qiraj, I just read about it. (thanks Stonehearth)

I went into Alterac Valley and didn't help my team at all.

Oh, I took the candle.

Sometimes I ask for a warlock to summon me when I'm really not that far away.

Sometimes when I'm questing, I want to be alone, so I pretend I can't hear my friends.

06 October 2012

so... I love the melee classes... I love anything that is personally responsible and I love the lessons in the new World of Warcraft expansion Mists of Pandaria for introducing concepts I've held personally dear for a long time and for doing it in a way that is... well... addictive as hell.

This is definately another expansion that I feel like belongs to me. Cataclysm was fun and I enjoyed my time in that expansion... and like the Lich King expansion, I feel connected on strange levels to the Pandaren and to their lessons and to the fun that playing in Pandaria represents.

Meet Monkibizniz... a Windwalker who has just picked up the Brewmaster specialization as her secondary specialization.

A white haired human female monk modeled as a joke after the monks in Diablo... she wears two different very similar transmogrified looks depending on whether her job is to kill them all or just distract them while you kill them all... I love the Windwalker class and am hesitant to begin her Brewmaster spec until I have leveled all the way up because so few people understand Monk tanking right now and I'm having fun with her just the way she is.

And Sigvorth... the bear whose name means "defender of peace through combat" and also "farmer... harvester of water and land." I thought it was clever being that the Pandaren have a racial ability to gain more benefit from food than the other races of Azeroth... and that he's a healer that does combat while he heals and draws damage done from healing accomplished and vice versa. For Monks balance is everything and I love that about them.

He was modeled from the ideals presented in the MoP trailer and from my own very role-play ideals of what a massive panda bear monk who is loosely chinese might be if he belonged to me to model. He's a Gnomish Engineering Master and makes sometimes useful toys and gadgets... he tinkers all the time. He's congenial and funny and has more "little bits of wisdom" macros than any character I've ever had. He loves to dance and he's a Mistweaver with a sense of humor and honor.

I love my Pandaren monk the best and he might just replace my warrior girls.

Allumette and Julienne are busy and taking their time through Pandaria because I'm in no rush... "There is no hurry." Their blog entry comes later.

Kilijan is 49 and finally has her transmog... only Sigvorth is borrowing some of the heirloom gear so she's not quite "fully dressed."

I love her, also and may make her my secondary... the warriors and DK will be my gatherers and fun for breaks in the monotony and I might just go all ranged-ish for this expansion... playing my dps from a distance and watching the bad guys' faces melt off while Kilijan kills them and healing the damage done on Sigvorth... I haven't decided yet.

Monks are all about fun for me right now, though... in much the same way that my little warlock is all fun and not the least bit stressful for me. I'm pretending to be a newb... and because of the lessons and the quest text and the fun involved in this expansion, I'm also sharing a lot in common with my new chubby bear friend.

peace... and if it can't be peaceful then kill them all... because it is not that we fight, it is what we are fighting for that really matters.

21 September 2012

sexy alienware laptop that tempts one to touch always and skip peripherals

glowing keyboard = peripheral

the new setup... laptop up and monitor, keyboard, authenticator hanging from pen cup and mouse below it all... and again, the laptop is so sexy I'm tempted to take it with me places

which necesitates sharing my current bars so I can set them up on a new computer. addons don't travel with you.

how lucky for me he loves me so much that now my mac is again and forever the machine my parents wanted it to be and I have an equally OMGWTFDOYOUMEANITCOSTSTHATMUCH and WTFDOESTHISWEIRDBUTTONDO computer for gaming!

so... the girls bars... so I can get back to the less than friendly task of setting it all up again.

for all the right reasons.

also... don't tell her... but if things go right I might just be gifting this computer to my sister because her parental units aren't planning on getting her a new one and she can't play diablo or pandaria on it.

what are big sisters for except to corrupt the younger ones? and hell, they bought it for me when I couldn't afford a computer for myself... Alex wouldn't touch a mac with someone else's fingers and a safety zone around himself... it seems it should stay in the family and she could strip her laptop and pass it to Joe to share with Freya. it's a working idea in my head anyway. now I have to feel like I could part with it when I love writing on it so much. LOL

maybe we'll all get lucky and she'll get a new computer for christmas.

02 September 2012

She farmed her way to 85 doing archaeology in preparation for learning to make herself into a dragon.Vial of the Sands will be her next achievement. This pretty lady was born on Akama in a guild called Circle of Swords and for a short time she had fun.And then in the way of many guilds and many things "MMO" she stopped having fun with greedy friends and learning curves that speed bumped and didn't roll and so she became a Blood Elf with blue hair and a mean laugh."My mana tap brings all the boys to the yard.""Thank you. I prefer epic mounts. On second thought, call me."

And then there was another change... she was taken to Cenarius to join Belegorad and Allumette (formerly Julienne) in Devils of the Alliance where she barely leveled and ended up being dragged back to Akama Alliance side and left without a guild or levels until I came to Baelgun and moved her with Allumette to join Julienne in first Underground Connection and now in Renaissance.Through it all there are a few lessons that bear acknowledgement well... 1. moving them isn't worth the money until you find a guild you like2. leveling them isn't worth the time if you don't enjoy playing them3. dress them well and you'll always smile when you see them on the load screen4. enjoying the game doesn't include playing with people you don't like5. friends come and go... your toons are always there.

lmao. :) mostly I'm kidding... or kinda kidding.

So... next is Kabechet, the girl who was born, died and resurrected by the Lich King as a boy named Anubusson... and Sweetassyn... the sexy other warrior who has not been my favorite warrior since her playmates all quit coming around and she left the guild she was born in.

Unlike Allumette who reforms and refashions herself... Sweets retired with her best friend and playmate some time ago and has just never really "done it for me" since. Without Myrrdinn and without Circle of Swords she's just a retired old lady warrior with a whole novel of fantasy fanfic and a life already lived. I don't delete her and I really also don't enjoy playing her.

How sad is that? My sister's guild is stuck with this retired toon... and because occasionally I drag her out to do things I can't fully retire her yet. Maybe I'll set her on a quest for the Vial of the Sands... some excuse to level her to MoP levels and then not take her out again. LOL

:)

peace and if not peaceful then always mindful of the why... it helps you rest at night.